Here She Is, Miss … Brooklyn?

Miss New York Mallory Hytes Hagan competes in the talent portion of the Miss America 2013 pageant on Saturday. Hytes Hagan won the competition.

By Pervaiz Shallwani and Danny Gold

Whether it is fights over bike lanes, the latest stroller drama or the controversial food co-op, the Park Slope area of Brooklyn is not new to the spotlight.

On Sunday, though, the neighborhood that has evolved into a home for transplants from across the country gained another, perhaps unlikely distinction – the adopted home of the country’s newest Miss America.

Mallory Hagan clinched the crown Saturday night by winning the swimsuit competition and tap dancing to a James Brown song. While the 23-year-old technically lives in the Windsor Terrace neighborhood, she identifies as a Park Slope resident and was a fixture at some businesses there — though she kept her pageant life largely to herself.

Ryan Lamm, manager of Root’s Cafe on Brooklyn’s 5th Avenue, said the “southern belle” with the twang in her voice was a regular at the cafe but he didn’t know she was a pageant winner until a reporter told him Sunday. ”I think the fact that she’s from here cuts away any negativity that people may have about the pageant,” he said, adding, “she’s going to move on to big things.”

Likewise, 10th Avenue Deli worker and Park Slope native David Arnash, 19, knew Hagan as a “nice, sweet girl” who came in for coffee in the morning — not Miss New York. ”It’s surprising. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen someone I know get so big and famous. I think it’s real cool, definitely,” he said. ”The neighborhood is going to be proud.”

In an interview over the summer, the then-Miss New York acknowledged that she kept her pageant life mostly to herself, whether it was eating at her favorite restaurant, Song, a Thai spot in the neighborhood, or hanging out at Root’s Café, where she and the owner developed a bond after learning they both hailed from Alabama.

Her New York life mirrors that of so many Brooklyn young adults, jumping from one fringe neighborhood to another, as she started out in life – in her case, earning a degree at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

“I moved here in October 2008, so it’s almost been four years. I’ve lived all over the borough — I’ve lived in Bed-Stuy, Williamsburg, Bensonhurst, and Sunset Park,” she said. “Now I live about three or four blocks away from Prospect Park in Park Slope. It’s my little escape area. I love the diversity in Brooklyn, that you can be in a Hasidic neighborhood one day, a Russian one the next day, and an Latino one after that.”

In a statement, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz heralded the victory on behalf of the borough’s 2.6 million residents. “I say bravo to Mallory,” he said. “We can’t wait to welcome her home and ‘crown’ her Kings County style!”

Whether other residents of the borough will take pride in the victory is a different matter.

Jill Jarvis, 33, was running errands with her wife, Anne Hays, 35, before heading to Park Slope Food Coop. They’ve lived in the neighborhood for nearly 10 years and jokingly referred to themselves as Park Slope stereotypes.